English: An “Ottomanist” banknote
A new banknote, first issued on 15 July 1880 by the Ottoman Bank, was rather unique for a number of reasons. First of all, although it was issued in 1880 during the fourth year of the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II, it bore the date of 1875, and carried the tuğra (monogram) of Sultan Abdülaziz, who had been dethroned in 1876. It appears that the banknote was prepared and printed in 1875 but had been on hold since, due to the financial crisis at the time. The most interesting aspect of the banknote was that it carried inscriptions in five languages: Turkish and French, as usual, but also Greek, Armenian and Arabic. The multi-lingualism, in addition to the use of the Gregorian calendar rather than the Islamic calendar, testified to the Ottomanism of the time. 1 lira note sealed by Mustafa Mazhar and signed by Beauvais and Vincent